Kevin Gilbert
| image = | caption = | birth_name = Kevin Gilbert | birth_date = July | birth_place = Condobolin, New South Wales | death_date = April | death_place = | occupation = Writer, Poet | notableworks = Living Black: Blacks Talk to Kevin Gilbert }} Kevin John Gilbert (10 July 1933 - 1 April 1993) was a 20th-century Indigenous Australian poet, artist, playwright, and printmaker. He is a past winner of the National Book Council prize for writers. Life Gilbert was born into the Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi nations in Condobolin, New South Wales and was raised by his maternal grandmother on an Aboriginal reserve. He left school at the age of 14 and picked up various seasonal and short-term itinerant jobs. In 1957 Gilbert was committed to a life sentence over the murder of his wife during an argument. He was eventually granted parole in 1971. While in prison Gilbert studied printmaking and took up writing. In 1968 he penned the play The Cherry Pickers. He exhibited his artwork at the Arts Council Gallery in Sydney in 1970, in an exhibition organised by the Australia Council. From 1972 onwards Gilbert was active in numerous Indigenous human rights causes and most notably in establishing the Aboriginal Tent Embassy at (old) Parliament house in Canberra and is known for embracing the term Black. He also authored 'Because a White Man'll Never Do It' in 1973. The National Book Council presented him an its book award for his book 'Living Black: Blacks Talk to Kevin Gilbert' in 1978. The book included interviews with various black commentators of the day including the late musician and dancer Robert Jabanungga. In the leadup to Australia's bi-centenary celebrations, Gilbert chaired the Treaty '88 campaign for a treaty enshrining Aboriginal rights and sovereignty. In that year he was awarded the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Human Rights Award for Literature for editing the Aboriginal poetry anthology Inside Black Australia. He returned the medal citing the ongoing injustice and suffering of his people. Gilbert continued writing and exhibiting his artwork. Gilbert died in 1993. He is survived by six children and numerous grand and great-grandchildren. Writing Particularly in his early verse, Gilbert uses the poetry as an apologia in respect to his own life whilst challenging the morality of the wider society. Publications Poetry *''End of Dreamtime''. Sydney: Island Press, 1971.End of Dreamtime, AustLit. Web, Aug. 26, 2014. *''People are Legends: Aboriginal poems''. St. Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1978. *''The Blackside: People are legends, and other poems''. South Yarra, Vic: Hyland House, 1990. *''Black from the Edge'' (photos by Eleanor Williams). South Melbourne, Vic: Hyland House, 1993. Play *''The Cherry Pickers: The first written Aboriginal play''. Canberra: Burrambinga Books, 1988. Non-fiction *''Because a White Man'll Never Do It''. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1973. *''Living Black: Blacks Talk to Kevin Gilbert''. London: Allen Lane, 1977; Ringwood, Vic: Penguin, 1977. *''Aboriginal Sovereignty: Justice, the law and land''. Canberra: Burrambinga Books, 1987. *''Breath of Life: Moments in transit towards aboriginal sovereignty'' (photos by Eleanor Williams). Canberra: Canberra Contemporary Art Space, 1996. *''I Do Have a Belief''. Belconnen, ACT: Belconnen Arts Centre, 2013. Juvenile *''Child's Dreaming: Poems''. South Yarra, Vic: Hyand House, 1993. *''Me and Mary Kangaroo'' (photos by Eleanor Williams). South Ringwood, Vic: Viking, 1994. Edited *''Inside Black Australia: An anthology of black poetry''. Ringwood, Vic: Penguin, 1988. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Kevin Gilbert, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 26, 2014. See also * List of Australian poets References External links ;Poems *"Kiacatoo" ;Books * Works by or about Kevin John Gilbert in libraries (WorldCat catalog). ;About *Kevin Gilbert in the Oxford Companion to Australian Literature *Kevin Gilbert at ACT Writers Showcase *Kevin Gilbert at National Gallery of Australia *Kevin Gilbert at Tripod *"[http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/resources/pdfs/181.pdf Kevin Gilbert and Living Black] at Koori History Project * Kevin John Gilbert (1933-1993) at Doollee.com. Category:1933 births Category:1993 deaths Category:Australian Aboriginal artists Category:Australian printmakers Category:Indigenous Australian writers Category:Australian poets Category:Australian dramatists and playwrights Category:Wiradjuri Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:English-language poets